One Step Forward, Three Steps Back?

The marquee signing of Luis Suarez should be making me smile, yet being a fan of Liverpool FC is never straight forward. News had surfaced early this morning, that Liverpool had rebuffed Chelsea’s offer of £35m for Fernando Torres. On hearing that, I just shrugged it off.. “Ah, Torres isn’t leaving, we have new owners, new investment, Hodgson gone.. all is well”. But the twitter-universe is going crazy with rumours of Torres making a verbal transfer request.

The next three days cannot come quick enough, as the closure of the transfer window is looming, im sure there will be a few twists and turns over the weekend. Should Chelsea come back with an improved bid, of around £40-45m, I can see the Liverpool board accepting the offer and the rest is up to Torres. I just hope that the signing of Luis Suarez will encourage Torres to stay, and see what partnership they can strike up.

On the positive side (only just), if Liverpool do cash in on Torres now, it will be for a handsome sum of cash. Which is more than LFC would receive in the summer, or beyond that. His contract is due to expire in the summer of 2013, and with the obvious January window premium, it would make sense (financially) to sell Torres at this point in time. A transfer fee around £40m now, would only decrease over the next 6-18 months.

Infact, as im writing this, deals mentioning £40m cash + Daniel Sturridge for Torres are being banded about by respected journalists and commentators. Although, no formal request has been made by Fernando, he has made it clear that he wants LFC to continue talks with Chelsea. Quite depressing news indeed, as a fan of Liverpool I would hate to see Torres leave, especially for Chelsea? Come on, they have a massive rebuilding job on their hands. First team squad average age of 43?

I have heard the expression “A good day to bury bad news” but even signing Luis Suarez (he has to complete a medical first) cannot bury this Torres story. As stated above, financially it would make some kind of sense to sell Torres now but still doesn’t make it any easier for the fans. I remember when Robbie Fowler left for Leeds, for around £12m – this transfer left me devastated for a long time, seeing Fowler in a Leeds shirt made me want to vomit, I expect a similar reaction IF I see Torres in a Samsmug Chelsea shirt.